This invention is in the field of sorrel breeding, relating specifically to a hybrid forage sorrel plant designated Modern SLAM.
At present, there are hundreds of billions square kilometers of dry, desert soils on the earth. China alone, for example, has 960 billion square kilometer waste land, of which 34.6 percent, or 332.7 billion square kilometer are comprised of desert soil. Because no effective development and utilization of these dry, sandy desert soils can be obtained, the condition of these soils grows worse and worse. Fertile soils and good farmland are being swallowed by these sandy, salty soils with astonishing speed. Since 1949, an area of land equal to twice the size of the Taiwan Province has been reduced to dry, desert-like land. China is currently supporting 22% of the world's population with only 7% of the world's cultivatable land.
Currently, no economically feasible way exists to improve sandy, salty alkaline soils. Traditional methods are tedious, expensive and not very effective. In order to meet the ever-increasing demand for food for both humans and animals, there is a need for a method of developing and reforming the desert soils of the world, making them suitable for agricultural purposes.